General Forum

Recently I started collecting again, Ive jumped in and out of the hobby since 1986. I just really missed it. After some debating on how and/or what I decided I wanted to build sets. Its something Ive done very little of and thought yea this is right for me. I decided to start with 1974-1992 after looking at things and picked those years because those are the years Topps released product in one series. However, as one who always is looking forward Ive began to wonder....What's next. There are 2 questions Im curious to get some input on from other set collectors. 

1. Vintage Hi Series: Whats everyone's approach on these? And how does it feel to adjust to paying/trading for these? My hang up is for the value these cards typically demand I could get Hall of Famer key cards for the price of a handful of common hi series. 

2. Junk Wax Bricks: I had a 94 Topps set that had bricked up I gave up on trying to unstick these. Tried several things and just seemed like I wasnt getting anywhere. Now I found this set, years ago for like $15 and I know there are some sets like this that can still be found at this price but unsticking them seems to be a issue for me. So I ask have you had issues aquiring these years through here or anywhere else as singles? Just dont want to try to put together a 1995 set and find its harder to locate singles than say 1965. 

Anyways Im just curious how others are dealt and felt about these concerns. I figure I got 6 months to a year before I'll really need to approach these. 

I'm a set collector first and foremost. I left the Hobby on 01 and sold everything off, but came back in 207 starting with nothing in hand. Funnily enough, I started with 74 also (birth year), but have also started moving backwards in time. Part of what you'll run into is pandemic related, especially in vintage. I went backwards as I felt even some of the key 60s cards (Ryan RC, Rose RC, etc.) were obtainable with some patience and timing. Then the pandemic came and many of the key cards are in high demand and/or in the High Series as well. Sigh.... As far as your questions

1 - I get almost all my vintage from shows and not eBay. With the handful of dealers I have gotten great deals on vintage that you'll never get on eBay. Benenfit is you also get to see exactly what you are getting. Pays to have that personal relationship. Specific to High Series vs key cards, it all depends what is available. I've passed on HOF IOT to get some high series as those are much harder to come by. It all depends on what is in front of me and what my budget says I can do at that particular time too.

2 - Coming back in I bought everything as sets (74 onward). I've had to upgrade my 70s sets as I got them off an unscrupulous former member of this site. I bought a whoile bunch of FS and had the same bricking issues from 94-04. 94 and 01 I had to repurchase as hand collated due to the bricking, but I was able to rescue most of the others with minimal upgrading requirements. For me, it was easier and more cost efficient that building from scratch (no matter how much I love ripping wax). Mind you, this was all pre-pandemic pricing stupidity. But if you do hand build, for flagship sets from 1995 onwards it shouldn't be too difficult to find singles if you are staying with Topps. The others (Upper Deck, Donruss, etc) may be a little more difficult as they had years where they shortprinted many base cards. Heck, that was one of the reasons I got in in 2001 to begin with.    

Speaking on the football side of things (I collect Topps sets primarily), there are a few things that I factor in:

Condition: I typically am not a huge stickler when it comes to condition, depending on what it is. For example, if I find a 1972 topps common that has some corner issues, I'm fine with it. But, if a 1990s common is beat, I would not touch it. With regard to the High series - I've found the 1972 Topps Football set to be very tough to find for "reasonable" prices, but it is for sure scarce. I've bought a few, but always for a price I feel comfortable. 

Bricking: I tend to inspect sets/cards before buying, and if it feels bricked, or some are, I typically stay away. Or I buy a sealed set, and leave it as such. 

speaking of vintage (baseball, football, basketball)  only, the older I get, the more I wait to buy....in other words, trade for commons, buy stars/high numbers.

I will get as far as I can into a set before I buy anything, and only buy lower series commons only when close to the set

in newer years, I am more of a team collector, so I do not buy boxes/packs.  Very occasionally I will buy a single pack or two, but for the most part I trade newer for newer and don't buy (except at quarter box at shows)

the most important thing in this journey is to HAVE FUN.

mark

I'm a football set builder will by a lot of my cards on eBay depending on the price. I have every topps regular sets from 1977 to 2015, also I have score sets from 1989 to 2020,  I a lot of other sets too. I just love to collect football card sets 

I buy collections from everyone who wants to get out of the hobby. Because of this I get things unbelievably cheap paying per card then buying what I want or what they only wanna sell.  Only drawback is the variety I'll receive is hard to organize. Vintage high series cards nr-mt or better that I have I will sell asap so I can BUY MORE!!

Example: I am building a 1952 Topps set but only going up to the mantle #307 because it's gonna cost me a fortune or a lifetime to build. Anything that exquisite deserves to be in a museum and not in my house.

I want to sell all my modern cards (as is) and sets and focus on vintage. The bricking set pandemic that people have are something I don't want to deal with. It breaks my heart and would HATE to see that happen. One more thing that irritates me about manufacturing errors with cards is how you might pull a pristine card from a pack and send it in to get graded and find out that the former Topps dynasty cut the cards wrong and gave you. 6 or whatever. or maybe sent you a ton of duplicates in the same wax box. Either way I really really liked what guy said about having fun. If collecting whatever you choose to collect isn't gonna give you the best times in your life then it doesn't seem worth it to make it a priority over the things that really matter. 

OKAY I'M GOING TO BED NOW.

I collect sets first and then a PC of HoF / stars second, all baseball.  Though I would love to complete every set from 1948 to the present, that may be out of reach.  But I do not lose sleep if I can't find a 1952 Mantle or a 1954 Aaron at a reasonable (affordable) price.  I buy cards I need and can afford no matter of who or what # they are in the set.  I do like to buy large collections or lots from collectors who either are getting out of the hobby or don't collect baseball.  In this way, I usually can get a large percentage of the set cheap, especially with the modern sets.  Once I am down to a manageable number of cards to find, then I will look for singles but also at a reasonable price.  I rather pay $200 for a 1954 card than for a 2011 card.

As for the bricking, it is a fact of card collecting.  From 1993 to as late as 2003, you will find bricks in tightly packed boxes. Some can be separated with minimal damage by bending and twisting smaller bricks.  Others will actually peel paper of the stuck cards and become fire-starter that burn with vivid colours.